How to Recover Formatted Files from PC in Windows? Two Easy Ways!

Once the disk is formatted, all of the data will be erased. However, you just realized that some of your important data or files had gone away with this operation. Unlike the deletion operation, you won’t find any data in your recycle bin. How do you get them back? Let’s find out how to recover formatted files from PC or in laptop on Windows in the article.

How to Recover Formatted Files​

What is Disk Format?

Disk formatting is a process of re-initialization that marks the surfaces of the disk with markers indicating the sector of the disk and other information like cyclic redundancy check to be used later by the disk controller to read or write data. Generally speaking, the disk operating system loses its ability to reference the data on the disk in order to rebuild the sector to be overwritten with data again.

Why You Formatted Your Disk

There are so many reasons which will cause a disk format, no matter in the physical or software level. Let’s say, physically, hard disk faults, crash, damage, bad sector found, etc always happen. Under these circumstances, formatting the disk is an option to check if the disk can be used again or not. As for software, there are still some conditions that you need to format the hard disk, like, system won’t boot, virus caused a hard disk consumption, etc. Moreover, the users may operate an initiative disk format.

BTW, some users worry that the disk formatted will ruin their Windows system. In fact, when you try to format the disk which contains the system, you will get a dialog like below picture which doesn’t offer you the format operation.

format disk which has Windows

What Does Format Do with Your Data

After formatting, it seems that the operation system will wipe out all the data . But in fact, this operation just writes a special delete mark to the disk sector where the data is located, telling the system that new data can be written here.

Is Data Recoverable on Formatted Drive?

Yes, but it is possible under one condition that the formatted disk has not been written with new data. After formatting, once you can find the pointers that indicate the operating system where the files are physically located. Then you can recover the files.

How to Recover Formatted Files

Method One: Recover Formatted Files from Backups

If you have a good habit to back up your data, no matter in an external device or in a cloud way, you can easily get your data back. More importantly, this is the best way to get your data back completely.

Method Two: Recover Formatted Files by a Professional Software

Unlike a normal delete, you can restore the files from the recycle bin. Disk formatting won’t move the data to the recycle bin. So you need to turn to a software which can rebuild the pointers and locate the lost data. Here we recommend you a professional software called Wondershare Recoverit Data Recovery with its guide on how to recover formatted files on Windows.

1. Download and install the Software

2: Choose the Formatted disk you want to recover and click Start button.

recoverit main window

3: The software will scan all the sectors of the formatted disk for the lost files.

recoverit scanning

4: Recover the data you want(We recommend you recover all the data)

recover results from recycle bin by recoverit

This is the way like how to retrieve shift deleted files as they both won’t have a restore information in the recycle bin. Hard disks are made for storing our important data. The format function can cause a loss of them. But as long as your sector of the formatted disk has not been overwritten, we still have the chance to get them back.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Table of Contents

WeNeedSoft Logo

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.